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Journal of Distance Learning, Vol 10, No 1, 2006 © Distance Education Association of New Zealand 
 

46 

Reviews 
 

 

BEREITER, C. (2002). Education and 
mind in the knowledge age. Mahwah, 
New Jersey: L. Erlbaum Associates     
(pp. xiii, 526). 
 
I looked forward to reading this book    
as someone who has worked with Carl 
Bereiter (of the Ontario Institute for 
Studies in Education of the University of 
Toronto) through the now disbanded 
TeleLearning Network of Centres of 
Excellence (TL.NCE). Until recently, the 
network linked researchers in schools 
and universities across Canada as well   
as in learning organizations in other 
places. The network highlighted the 
collaborative power of information      
and communication technologies and   
the Internet. Bereiter was a senior 
researcher in TL.NCE and brought to    
its symposia a scholarly and erudite 
perspective that questioned ways we 
think about knowledge: its organization, 
presentation, and meaning. 
 
Bereiter is well known for his work in 
cognition and educational psychology.   
In this book he presents a “new theory   
of mind” or a new way of thinking about 
knowledge and the mind. He begins with 
a challenge: 
 

Here we are in the Information Age, 
relying on a theory of mind that is 
older than the wheel. Every other 
folk theory—folk physics, folk 
biology, folk economics—has had  
to yield to more powerful theories, 
better equipped to address the 
problems of an adventurous 
civilization. . . . Something called 
“cognitive science” arose in the 

1950s and developed rapidly. Its 
most conspicuous manifestations 
have been in artificial intelligence 
and robotics, but it has had              
a significant and sometimes 
revolutionary effect on all the 
behavioural sciences. Although it 
may be true that most of the 
world’s business is still conducted 
according to folk theories of     
mind, this may be only a matter     
of cultural lag, which will be 
overcome as cognitive science takes 
hold. (p. xx) 

 
Bereiter argues that in today’s knowledge 
age, education’s conceptual tools are 
inadequate for the issues and challenges 
that are faced. Two things are required: 
to get away from the idea of the mind    
as a container and to understand the   
role of individual minds in societal 
knowledge production. Bereiter proposes 
in this book an alternative model of      
the brain and of knowledge, a model      
in which the brain does not actually 
contain knowledge. The need, it is 
argued, is to understand how a brain   
can sustain knowledgeable and intelligent 
behaviour. Such a model needs to be 
developed in order to have a theory of 
mind that can be used in the knowledge 
age. Bereiter draws on current ways       
of thinking about knowledge and the 
mind, including information processing, 
cognitive psychology, situated cognition, 
constructivism, social constructivism, 
and connectionism, in a search for a    
way of thinking that is appropriate for 
the challenges faced by education in the 
knowledge age. 
 



 

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In the preface Bereiter notes the TL.NCE 
was a federally supported program to 
advance the development and use of 
learning technologies, but through a 
project within it on Cognitive/ 
Epistemological Models for Knowledge. 
Building funds were in fact devoted to 
the “most fundamental issues of what 
such an enterprise is about.” Knowledge 
is the pivotal idea in this book and the 
author contrasts the stuffing of mental 
filing cabinets with the development of   
a richer conception of what it is to be 
knowledgeable. This book is a major 
contribution to the development of 
thinking about knowledge and the mind 
in the context of an age in which 
information is increasingly accessible 
and, in many ways, a basis for social   
and economic organization. Bereiter 
raises fundamental questions about 
knowledge, the mind, knowledgeability, 
and the brain. 
 
The second part of the book is devoted to 
“Education and Knowledge Work,” 
where issues surrounding educational 
planning and the teaching profession are 
discussed. Education and Mind in the 
Knowledge Age contains a chapter called 
“Can Education Become a Modern 
Profession?” Bereiter points out that 
there is a failure to connect research    
and invention, or education’s inability     
to function as a knowledge-creating 
institution. The failure, he argues, is not 
the fault of teachers, administrators, 
researchers, or politicians. It is systemic. 
Two cultures exist within education:        
a traditional craft culture and a    
research culture. While there is 
interaction between the two cultures, 
each is stultified by the division. Bereiter 
argues for a hybrid culture within    
which craft and research cultures can 
together solve common problems. He 
notes, “A problem that seems to have 

potential for cultural fusion is teaching 
for understanding.” 
 
This is a lengthy and complex book that 
sets out fresh ideas about how we think 
about schools, education, educational 
reform, the teaching profession, the 
relationship between theory and practice, 
and, within all this, the place of 
information technologies in teaching   
and learning. It is written by a    
respected scholar with international 
standing who has developed a theory    
of how classrooms can be changed. 
Bereiter draws on a considerable body   
of classroom research in which he and  
his colleagues have been involved,          
as well as a considerable body of 
cognitive theory. 
 
Education and Mind in the Knowledge Age 
invites us to reconsider what we mean  
by knowledge and the mind today. 
Bereiter writes with grace and simplicity. 
Complex ideas are made accessible and 
most readers will recognize situations 
outlined by the author in their own 
professional and personal lives. Bereiter 
writes about some of the most 
fundamental concerns of education 
(knowledge and mind), yet the book    
will meet most educators’ demand for 
“relevance.” This is one of the most 
insightful and timely books on education 
I have read. It deserves to be read and 
discussed widely. 
 

Ken Stevens 
Memorial University of Newfoundland 

Newfoundland, Canada 
 
 



 

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HOWARD, C., BOETTCHER, J. V., 
JUSTICE, L., SCHENK, K., ROGERS, 
P., & BERG, G. (Eds.) (2005). 
Encyclopedia of distance learning, vols. 
1–4. Hershey, Pennsylvania: Idea Group 
Reference (pp. 2500). 
 
In a foreword to this collection, Seymour 
Papert invites readers “who consult this 
encyclopedia in a sober spirit” to share 
with him “a moment of being drunk  
with amazement at its table of contents.” 
The table of contents is fifteen pages  
long, but once the reader understands its 
alphabetical structure, articles in the four 
volumes that follow are easy to access. 
What Papert is no doubt referring to is 
the sheer volume as well as the range of 
papers in this collection about a  
relatively new field of education. This is 
probably the most extensive collection of 
papers ever to be published in the field  
of distance learning, and, at almost 
US$1,000, the most expensive. As such it 
is more likely this collection will be 
purchased by libraries than individuals.  
 
Considering the international nature of 
the contributions to these volumes,     
they are likely to be widely consulted. 
Hundreds of international contributors to 
the Encyclopedia of Distance Learning have 
provided an extensive coverage of   
topics in the field of distance learning, 
with an emphasis on major areas where 
online learning and technology have an 
impact on education: K–12 education, 
higher education, continuing education, 
and professional and technical training. 
Many of the contributions describe how 
institutions have reshaped themselves    
to take advantage of developments in 
information technologies to encourage 
increased interaction between students, 
teachers, institutions, and societies. 
 

An encyclopedia is defined by the 
Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (1997) 
as “a book or set of books containing 
many articles arranged in alphabetical 
order, which deal either with the whole 
of human knowledge or with a particular 
aspect of it.” Between 1751 and 1765 
Denis Diderot edited and partly wrote  
17 volumes of the Encyclopédie (which in 
time grew to a total of 35 volumes) in    
an attempt to bring together a systematic 
outline of civilization’s knowledge, 
thereby promoting a new ideology of 
open dissemination of knowledge. The 
editors of the Encyclopedia of Distance 
Learning argue that Diderot’s mission 
“parallels the contemporary challenge,” 
in that ways to increase the dissemination 
of our collective knowledge of the    
world are still being sought. The question 
this set of books seeks to answer is, 
“How can the knowledge of civilization 
be spread throughout the world with   
the use of the personal computer?”     
(vol. 1, xxxvii). This is a big question   
and the editors acknowledge, “Writing 
an encyclopedia on any subject is an 
extraordinary conceit, particularly on      
a subject as new and amorphous as 
computer-based learning on an 
international scale.” 
 
A note from one of the editors  
introduces the acronym “TILDE” 
(technology, instruction, learning, design, 
and evaluation), around which items 
were selected for inclusion in the 
encyclopedia. Each of these categories 
encompasses a range of media appli-
cations and aspects of teaching, learning, 
and program development. The editors 
note that while these could be discussed 
as separate entities, “The reality of online 
distance learning has merged all aspects 
of teaching (professor and instructor, 
support services, interactivity, design, 
evaluation, and technology) and learning 



 

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(usability, access, interactivity, design, 
evaluation, technology),” arguing, “On-
line distance learning is a manifestation 
of a true reform/shift in education since 
societies began educating the masses and 
not just the elite” (vol. 1, xxxii). 
 
Each of the editors has his or her own 
“Editor’s Notes” in volume one, which 
are useful in providing access to how 
they each perceive distance learning. 
Patricia Rogers, in her editorial 
introduction, argues, “The whole history 
of distance learning is about access to 
education.” If this is the case, much of 
what is contained in these volumes is 
significant as there is a good deal of 
attention to pedagogy and to the   
changes that e-learning has brought to 
how we think about teaching and 
learning in schools and in higher 
education. While not everyone is 
convinced that e-learning has a place      
in educational institutions (Zemsky & 
Massy, 2004), many contributors provide 
insights into changes that are taking  
place around the world. As Norris   
(2005, pp. 687–688) notes in the second 
volume of this collection: 
 

When it comes to online learning  
we have set our sights too low, by 
far. We have largely digitized our 
existing approaches to learning—
paving the cow paths, as it were. 
Most practices have focused on 
existing learning relationships and 
experiences, rather than on new 
experiences and value propositions 
that could be created for     
students, faculty, staff and other 
stakeholders. Many institutions 
have failed to see e-learning 
infrastructures as part of emerging 
institutional and system-wide 
infrastructures that fuse academic 
and administrative processes, 

experiences, and value propositions. 
And many institutions have so      
far failed to create enterprise-wide 
strategies for leveraging these 
resources in new ways. 

 
One of the most thoughtful and  
insightful contributions in this set is       
by Patricia Rogers, who discusses 
“teacher-designers.” She observes that 
the promise of various technologies        
to “revolutionize” education has never 
really met this expectation. She argues: 
 

As one who researches and 
practices online distance learning, I 
believe the growth in instructional 
management systems (IMS), new 
interactive objects and shared 
objects, the push for seamless 
integration of systems and coding 
standards, has more to do          
with recognizing and supporting 
teaching and learning than it does  
in teacher-proofing instruction. That 
is, the teacher-designer (Rogers, 
2002) and the learners are the focus 
of the new technologies, rather    
than a program-controlled delivery 
system. . . . It all boils down to 
learner needs, sound teaching, and 
appropriate instructional design, 
working with the characteristics     
of the variety of multiple media 
available to online learners to  
create an accessible and interactive 
environment for learning. (vol. 1, 
xxxiii) 

 
Correspondence-based distance learning, 
common during the twentieth century, 
has been transformed by the advent       
of the Internet and e-learning in the 
twenty-first century. Today, according to 
the editors, “It is not a matter of whether 
or not all educators should take 
advantage of distance learning, but how 



 

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soon and in what way. It is no longer a 
question of whether or not distance 
learning will become one of the dominant 
forms of educational offerings across    
the world, but how soon and to what 
extent” (vol. 1, xiv). 
 
As an encyclopedia, this collection will be 
consulted in different ways. It provides 
information on geographical regions, 
pedagogy, technology, management, and 
global issues. The reader who considers 
the range, complexity, and innovation 
reported in these collected papers may 
reflect on what it all means. It is clear  
that e-learning has become a powerful, 
global educational phenomenon that is 
reshaping both the delivery of education 
as well as the nature of teaching and 
learning. As Papert says in the foreword, 
it is not really appropriate now to         
talk about learning online, learning with 
technology, or learning with computers, 
just as we do not talk about learning  
with paper. The Internet and computers 
are part of the mainstream of how we 
organize education so that “learners  
from any place in the world can now 
connect with, and interact with, anyone, 
anywhere at any time” (vol. 1, xiv). Many 
educators are still adapting to this   
reality in terms of organization, teaching, 
learning, and policy. 
 
This comprehensive collection of papers 
on distance education from around the 
world is a recent addition to the Idea 
Group’s growing reference series on 
information science research. The aim of 
the Encyclopedia of Distance Learning, 
according to its editors, is to address the 
needs of a broad audience of educators, 
trainers, administrators, librarians, 
human resource professionals, and 
instructional designers involved in all 
aspects of online learning. These four 
volumes will, I predict, become a 

standard reference at a time of increased 
convergence of traditional and Internet-
based teaching and learning. Collectively, 
they provide an extensive map of the 
field in 2005 and a snapshot of its 
increasingly complex parts. 
 

Ken Stevens 
Memorial University of Newfoundland 

Newfoundland, Canada 
 
REFERENCES 
 
Crystal, D. (1997). The Cambridge encyclopedia 

of language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge 
University Press. 

Norris, D. (2005). Driving systemic change 
with e-learning. In C. Howard, et al.    
(Eds.), Encyclopedia of Distance Learning, 
vol. 2. Hershey, Pennsylvania: Idea    
Group Reference. 

Rogers, P. L. (Ed.) (2002). Designing 
instruction for technology-enhanced   
learning. Hershey, Pennsylvania: Idea 
Group Publishing. 

Zemsky, R., & Massy, W. (2004). Thwarted 
innovation: What happened to e-learning   
and why. Final Report for the 
Weatherstation Project of the Learning 
Alliance. University of Pennsylvania, in 
Cooperation with the Thomson Corp. 

 
LAI, KWOK-WING (Ed.) (2001).            
E-learning: Teaching and professional 
development with the Internet.   
Dunedin, New Zealand: University of 
Otago Press (pp. 206). 
 
Classroom and school applications of   
the Internet and information and 
communication technologies (ICT) to 
assist teaching and learning are now a 
major consideration in the professional 
development of teachers. For many 
teachers the place of ICT in classrooms is 
not clear and ways in which they can 
enhance teaching and learning are        
not widely understood. How teachers 
and their schools are to make the 



 

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transformation from traditional class-
rooms to Internet and ICT-enhanced 
learning spaces is a challenge. Many  
need encouragement to even consider the 
role of ICT and the Internet in their 
classrooms and, as the editor of this  
book notes, they need time in which to 
learn how to use what for many are     
still new technologies. The transition is 
not always easy, particularly for busy 
teachers who are not naturally drawn    
to new technologies. 
 
In this book Kwok-Wing Lai has brought 
together a range of papers written by 
school and university teachers in New 
Zealand. The ten chapters, all written    
by people in or associated with the       
School  of Education of the University of 
Otago, are organized in three sections: 
the use of the Internet and ICT for the 
professional development of teachers; 
resources available on the Internet for 
teaching and professional development; 
and ethical, social, and other issues 
around Internet use in classrooms. The 
various Otago authors are well-placed   
to observe the need for professional 
development in ICT for New Zealand 
teachers. Lai notes that this book was,    
in itself, a professional development 
exercise for each of the contributors. The 
outcome will be useful for the teaching 
profession in this country. 
 
In his opening chapter Lai notes, 
“Research has documented positive 
outcomes of ICT use in a variety of 
learning situations” (p. 9) and “It has 
been clearly documented in the literature 
that it is teachers’ attitudes towards 
technology, their beliefs in teaching and 
learning, as well as their styles of 
teaching that affect how students use 
technology and what sort of learning 
experience they will have” (p. 10).        
For me, one of the most important 

observations in this volume is on         
page 38: “We believe that the greatest 
potential of the Web is its ability to 
support structured collaboration and 
conversation among a community          
of learners.” 
 
Structured collaboration is a very 
important dimension in the work of 
many small schools in New Zealand   
that are linked to one another through 
such networks as Canta-tech and Otago-
net. Within these electronic school district 
intranets, based on the Internet,    
teaching and learning can be shared and 
thereby enhanced. This is now an 
important dimension of the educational 
experience of rural students in this 
country. At a micro or classroom level, 
structured interaction is also important. 
Structured interaction that involves 
collaborative learning assisted by one    
or more teachers has the potential to 
greatly enrich the learning experiences of 
students. Structured interaction identifies 
one of the fundamental reasons for 
enhancing teaching and learning with the 
Web and with various other technologies. 
It is the potential for collaboration in both 
teaching and learning that computers     
in classrooms provide that is one of      
the most important reasons for their 
introduction to classrooms. Nevertheless, 
a decision to engage in structured 
interaction, whether at the school-to-
school level or within classrooms, 
requires rethinking both teacher and 
student roles and the ways learning is to 
be organized and supported. 
 
Lai and his coauthors have covered many 
issues that will be of concern to teachers 
contemplating the introduction of ICT    
in classrooms. There is a chapter on legal, 
ethical, and social issues surrounding 
“the wired school” and another on 
dealing with inappropriate material on 



 

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the Internet along with various strategies 
that teachers and parents can use. Lai 
himself is the author of the first two 
chapters which focus on the matter of 
ICT and the professional development    
of teachers. Together with his colleague 
and prominent online teacher Ann 
Trewern, he proceeds in the third chapter 
to outline a case for online learning as an 
alternative way of providing professional 
development for teachers. Chapters on 
the development and evaluation of 
websites and on resources for teachers  
on the World Wide Web round out this 
useful volume. 
 
This book is about ICT in the  
professional development of teachers  
and will be useful for many members     
of the profession as well as for teacher 
educators. The introduction of ICT in 
classrooms challenges these traditional 
learning spaces and Lai and his 
colleagues provide many insights into  
the implications of how teaching and 
learning are shaped by it. The book will 
be readily understood by teachers who 
are new to technological considerations 
in teaching and learning. It is written for 
teachers rather than for information 
technologists and, unlike many others in 
this field, it is written by New Zealanders 
who draw on examples and case studies 
from this country. On another level this 
book will find a place in the professional 
and the continuing education of teachers. 
It draws on international scholarship in 
the field of e-learning, integrating it with 
local material. This volume deserves a 
place in every New Zealand school, 
particularly those that have yet               
to develop programs for supporting 
teaching and learning using ICT. 
 

Ken Stevens 
Memorial University of Newfoundland 

Newfoundland, Canada 

VON PRÜMMER, C. (2000). Women and 
distance education: Challenges and 
opportunities. London: RoutledgeFalmer 
(pp. xx, 220). 
 
Christine von Prümmer has focussed     
on the potential of distance education to 
provide equal opportunities for women. 
In providing this focus, based on research 
undertaken at the German Fern 
Universitat (FeU), an institution that 
provides a case study for this book, she 
has introduced me, and I suspect other 
readers, to the sociology of women in 
distance learning. Issues of social class, 
mobility, minority women and distance 
learning, communication and the use     
of emerging learning technologies are    
all discussed. The author provides a 
considerable body of gender-based 
pedagogical insights into learning at        
a distance, supported by international 
research in which the UK’s Open 
University (OU) features prominently. 
Anyone developing or teaching a course 
at a distance will find this research data 
informative. Prümmer has provided a 
tour de force of the impact of distance 
learning on women and, in doing so, 
opened up an important, but not widely 
discussed, area of the sociology of 
education and educational policy. 
 
This book is significant for me in two 
ways: sociological and pedagogical. On a 
sociological level, Prümmer develops and 
intertwines the themes of equity and 
opportunity in this analysis of women    
in distance education. The traditional 
rigidities and social class basis of the 
German education system are outlined   
to demonstrate problems of social 
mobility—issues that will be familiar to 
researchers in the UK and in many 
Commonwealth countries. Fortunately, a 
glossary of German educational terms    
is provided. In bringing this relationship 



 

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into sharp relief, the author has    
focussed on a subject that has perhaps 
been overlooked by educational 
researchers because it is so obvious. 
Women and Distance Education draws 
attention to the relationship between 
distance learning and women students,  
at a time when distance learning/           
e-learning/tele-learning are becoming 
part of the educational mainstream 
through the integration of online and on-
site instruction in schools, universities, 
and vocational training institutions. 
 
On a pedagogical level, Prümmer draws 
attention to communication and learning 
styles in distance education and, in 
particular, the preferences of women 
students. Tables quantifying preferences 
by gender in terms of modes of 
communication show some interesting 
differences that could, usefully, be noted 
by distance education course developers. 
 
This book is, however, primarily a 
sociology of education. A good deal of 
attention is given to problems in learning 
at a distance that face working-class    
and minority group women. Issues of 
access and control permeate Women     
and Distance Education in terms of the 
frequency of contact they have, as 
students, with distance learning 
universities (particularly the FeU and 
OU). A chapter is devoted to distance 
education and the social mobility of 
women students and their “occupational 
goals,” their subject choices and their 
social class backgrounds. A good deal of 
material is presented here and this has 
the potential to stimulate comparative 
studies in other parts of the world. The 
role of distance learning in social mobility 
is an area in which more research could 
be encouraged. 
 

This book will, obviously, find a place in 
the literature of feminism and education 
and in the broader field of the sociology 
of education. As a distance educator, it 
has brought to my attention several 
previously overlooked sociological 
dimensions of teaching and learning at a 
distance and provided insight into 
gender differences regarding preferences 
in communication. 
 

Ken Stevens 
Memorial University of Newfoundland 

Newfoundland, Canada